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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 4, 1995)
RlMfeii 11 M;l, ,.rh‘ . J K x ssistti* ''iru^- eif 111^| i,!i' m. i >| winb ll i!;i;ni fl , jl H to, !^,^M55jsJ5; us your Classified Ad 845-2678 The Battalion Tuesday, October loth ^Chamber Rudder Theatre, 7;30pni Concerts Kyoko Salto, soprano & Christopheren Nomura, baritone Young Concert Artists International Competition Winners 845-1234 MSC Box Office Tickets - $10, Seniors, 65+ - $7, Students - $5 Season Subscriptions Still Available Page 4 • The Bait align s\ggielife Wednesday October4 i Meteorology program puts students on the hunt By Katharine Deaton The Bai talion R] Conti The Best Pizza In Town, ^Honest! Fast Feast Buffet Special Mr. Gatti’s FastFeast Buffet Specially Priced Just For You! All You Care To Eat! Pizza (lots of different kinds!) SpaGatti (with Mr. Gatti’s rich 'n meaty sauce!) Fresh ‘n Healthy Salad! Desserts (including Mr. Gatti’s Dutch Apple Treat and Very Cherry Dessert Pizzas!) Weekday Lunch Dinner & Weekend Buffet $2 99 Plus Tax $099 Plus Tax served M - F 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. served M - F 4 - 9:30 p.m. Sat. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 9:30 p.m. 107 South College • 268-8888 Stewart set to shed his Picard persona T he typical reaction of most people when notified of an oncoming storm is to seek shelter and take other precau tionary measures. But not all people react like this. The Texas A&M Student Chapter of the American Meteo rological Society recently orga nized a storm-chasing program. The Texas A&M Mobile Severe Storm Data Acquisition (TAMMSSDA) is comprised of students who chase storms in their spare time. Dr. Michael Biggerstaff, an ad viser for the group and meteorolo gy professor, said the storm chasers’ main purpose is to verify the existence and location of storms and to notify the National Weather Service stations located in Houston, Fort Worth and New Braunfels of severe weather. “The idea is not to be in the middle of it, but to be able to verify that severe weather oc curred as soon as possible after the event,” Biggerstaff said. “Sometimes the Doppler radars used by the National Weather Service issue false alarms, and TAMMSSDA can help to verify the actual weather condition.” Marion Alcorn, the group’s ad viser and meteorology professor at A&M, said the information col lected by the storm chasers is also used in research and teaching by the meteorology department. “TAMMSSDA wants a video recorder,” Alcorn said, “so if the students see a good [storm], they can tape it. The video can be used in teaching.” Alcorn said the major step to getting organized is the acquisi tion of equipment such as hand radios and tape recorders. How ever, this can be costly. “The storm-chasing is fairly new,” Alcorn said. “For the last two to three years, they’ve made attempts to get organized.” Adam Houston, a senior me teorology major, is president of the student chapter of the mete orological society and is an ac tive participant in the storm- tarsi a Photo courtesy of Dr. LoulsWfa | Dr. Louis Wicker, a professor of meteorology at A&M, encountered tornado while conducting an experiment near Kellerville. Wickerwr with students on the Texas A&M Mobile Severe Storm Data Accwisit chasing program. Houston said finding funding was difficult. “We really didn’t know where we could come up with the mon ey,” Houston said. The Department of Student Activities approved $1,000 through the Association of F’or- mer Students. Also, a portion of meteorology graduate students’ tuition is pooled as a financial resource for programs and equipment to ben efit the department. F'unding was approved for the group with the provision that the collected information would benefit the meteorology department and graduate students. Houston said the total $3200 granted to the program has al lowed them to purchase hand ra dios, audio recorders, maps and various odds and ends. “The most difficult task for storm-chasers is coming up with money for equipment,” Houston said. “Eventually, we hope to buy a video recorder, but it costs a lot more money.” Alcorn said the students first chased storms with ho equipment but soon realized they needed ra dios to stay in contact with the base station, the Eller Oceanogra phy and Meteorology Building.' Some students hold radio!- censes they earn with the heif and training of the handrail club. II 'There are no requiremeife students must meet to join! group. However, a studentm to storm-chasing must aecompt ny an experienced chaser mJ attempting it alone. “Experience plays a big part in this,” Houston said. Inexpert enced students’ chances IT ting hurt or killed are great.’ , The group and the mt teorol® department combat inexperienu with knowledge. Students who have am derstanding of weatheraci forecasting have a better chance of remaining safe aai collecting useful information. “To be a good storm chaser, you have to be a good forecast-f) er,” Houston said. Houston admits that a! though the storm chasers actas a means of correction and vert fication, they make mistakes, “It’s imperfect,” Houston saii “Even if you have lots of expert ence and are a good forecaster, you can miss good storms. Mete orology is an imperfect sciencei PEOPLE IN CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — After seven years in command of the starship Enterprise, ac tor Patrick Stewart has his feet firmly back on Earth. Stewart said he’s hop ing to shed his better-known identity, Capt. Jean-Luc Picard, with a series of roles on film and the stage. “I’m currently in a mode of looking for work that puts as much room between me and Capt. Picard’s space suit as possi ble,” Stewart joked before putting on a one-man show at the Uni versity of North Carolina. The search has kept the bald, Royal Shakespeare Com pany-trained actor quite busy since Star Trek: The Next Gen eration ended in 1994. Stewart is in a Broadway production of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.” He completed a run of the same play in Central Park this summer. He also has a starring role in the film Jeffrey, a gay love story currently in theaters, and will ap pear as a ballroom dance instruc tor in the upcoming Let It Be Me. Congressional family expands Powell says rap should be positive HOUSTON (AP) — Colin Powell says rappers should keep in mind how their music af fects children. Rappers “should see if WASHINGTON (AP) - F* ly values are growing on Call HiH. I Reps. Susan Molinari and m Paxon, the only married couple serving in Congress, are expeff- ing their first child in May. ) “This is just another sign that the Republican Party is cohM ing to grow in numbers,’’the Neff York lawmakers said Tuesday- Molinari will be the third law maker to give birth. Kep. Yvoft Braithwaite Burke, D-Calif, w the first 20 years ago. Powell we can up grade and up lift it a little bit,” said Powell, who joined other black leaders in a private meet ing with rap music artists and producers in New York last July. As for the musical genre it self, Powell said: “It’s not an artistry that I totally under stand, but they are creative.” The former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff spoke with the Houston Chronicle Monday during a stop to promote his auto biography, My American Journey. Correction An A&M student identified in a picture as Tina Harrison yesterday on page 3 ii|| should have been || identified as Anita ! McGauder-Johnson,® facilitator of discussion. at Saturdays J| S.I.S.T.A.S. workshop UNIVERSAL PICTURES presents an AMBUN ENTERTAINMENT production a JOCELYN M00RH0USE film a SANFORD/PILLSBURY production “HOWTO MAKEAN AMERICAN QUILf MAYAANGELOU KATECAPSHAW LOREN DEAN SAMANTHA MATHIS DERMOT MULRONEY DERRICK O’CONNOR JEAN SIMMONS LOIS SMITH RIP TORN MYKELTI WILLIAMSON ^THOMAS NEWMAN S «RTIM SEXTON ffiWALTER PARKES LAURIE MacDONALD DEBORAH JEUN NEWER WHITNEY OTTO “ME ANDERSON ™ uce b?SARAH PILLSBURYand MIDGE SANFORD “ME ANDERSON ™ uce b?SARAH PILLSBURYand MIDGE SANFORD IamHn |pg-i3|pabents strongly cautioned^] iebsureo ca DUtECT BY JOCELYN M00RH0USE A UNIVERSAL PICTURE Some Material May Be Inappropriate for Children Under 13 Visit the Universal Pictures Internet site at (http:/ /www.mca.com)! Opens Friday, October 6 th at Theatres Everywhere